Must we choose? Can we not have a representation of both? Tamar At 09:31 AM 2/9/99 -0500, you wrote: >I agree that membership will not likely attract the world population en >mass. But every reference to "the lists" as being the only voice >ignores people who do not use these lists or the English language as >their primary form of communication. It overlooks people who do not rely >on the lists as a way to communicate their wishes, e.g., people who >simply call a Congressman/MP/Deputy/ICANN. > >The existing organizations and these lists represent the "old hands." >Whether they will be able to expand to represent the next generation of >users remains to be seen. Whether ICANN's charter will expand beyond >names and numbers is another variable. We are in the early days of >broad public access and I find it hard to predict who will be interested >in future. It might include the IT folks running e-commerce sites; it >might be a horde of INTA lawyers who are using a different list right >now; it might be the Computer Club of Bangladesh using Babelfish 3.0. >That's why I don't favor restricting membership to existing formats, >even though I know Eric is dead on when he urges us to plan for the >bottom end of the scaling issue. > >I'm not such a fan of automatic enrollment, though. Membership entails >some legal responsibilities under California law that ought not to be >undertaken without knowing what they are. > >Also, as Eric says, why ignore all the current expertise? And that >leads to the question of interest-based management vs. representative >management. Do you let the ones with heightened interest decide what's >best for the rest (as banking organizations do) in a kind of Darwinian >evolution of government or do you nail down the understanding that no >government is authentic at its core unless your governing body actually >represents everybody. The latter has a tendency to dilute the >contribution of the former and that diminution of expertise concerns me >greatly. > >Diane Cabell >MAC > >Eric Weisberg wrote: > >> Bob Allisat wrote: >> > >> > Eric Weisberg wrote: >> > > The "great unwashed" will not join and vote in ICANN >> > > elections no matter how hard you beat the bushes. >> > >> > I figure a lot of average people >> > will want to get involved if it ever comes to that. >> >> I've seen such figuring, but not the basis. All the data >> contradicts your conclusion. Look at the relevant >> organizations and lists. How many people have been >> interested enough to participate? What incentives will >> increase our ranks by a factor of 100? Of 10? Design the >> structure according reality rather than fantasy. We have a >> lot of relevant experience. Why ignore it? > > > ---------------------------- YOUR NAME HERE Boston University School of Law 765 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215 EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------
